Owen Sieben will make his first home field start in two years Friday afternoon, quarterbacking the University of Regina in trying to boldly go where no other Rams team has ever gone before: a seven-win season.
Regardless of what happens in their regular season finale against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at Regina’s Leibel Field, the 6-1 Rams will go marching into the Canada West football playoffs with home field advantage to start, but need a win or tie in this game along with some help on the out-of-town scoreboard a day later, in order to get first-place and clinch home field advantage throughout their entire playoff run.
Head coach Mark McConkey is thinking about much bigger fish to fry than some regular season record.
“I think it’d be cool for sure, but we’ve got our sights set on bigger and better. I think being the first Rams team to win a Vanier Cup would be a lot cooler,” McConkey said. “But it’s kudos to the staff and the players for all the hard work they’ve put in and been able to come up with, hopefully seven victories after Friday.”
A Regina win would force UBC to miss the playoffs for the first since 2019. Rams' defensive coordinator Sheldon Gray has been with the program off and on, first as a player before becoming a coach, since the U-of-R football program started in 1999. But he isn’t making a big deal about the record, either.
“I think it’s about going 1-0 this week, really,” Gray said. “I’m a zero-zero guy until the final whistle. So ultimately, whatever the record is, we want to go 1-0 this week.”
As for the Rams fascinating quarterback situation unfolding, Sieben will start again after winning his first complete game since 2023 last week in Alberta. Noah Pelletier who had been the starter all year before then will be the backup while continuing to do short-yardage and holding on field goals with a possibility of some playing time, depending on the situation, for third-stringer Conner Kerr from Weyburn. McConkey believes managing his quarterbacks hasn’t been as tricky as one might expect since Sieben and Pelletier are into their third and fourth years, respectively, with the team.
“When Owen was a rookie and Peltch started, [Noah] got hurt and Owen went in and did really well, but here Owen was the starter, did a good job and got hurt,” McConkey said. “Peltch did a good job. They both cheered each other on. I think they’re so mature, it’s been great.”
“Owen was great as Noah’s backup and now it’s flipped and Noah’s been great. [Owen] is really fun to watch and some of those plays seem to go a little off-script and that’s probably a good thing about him is if you don’t call the perfect play, he can use his feet and escape the pocket. He can get out on the run and make plays out of nothing but you don’t want him doing that all the time and getting hit.”
Regina running back Marshall Erichsen continues to lead the conference in rushing and is 34 yards away from tying Adrian Charles (2010) for the all-time school record of 974 yards. Bothered by a bad toe suffered at the end of Week 6, McConkey expects to try and rotate Erichsen with the other running back, Christian Katende, much like they did in Edmonton one week earlier in the win over Alberta. Leibel Field has been a beautiful hunting ground for the Rams and their running backs, 4-0 all-time at the small but noisy facility just north of Wascana Lake, the Rams are back to the scene of the crime for some of their best rushing games ever.
First, Christian Katende rumbled for 228 yards, the third highest single-game total in school history, 207 of which came in the second half, in an epic Rams comeback over Alberta to save their season and kick start a memorable Cinderella run to finish the 2024 season. Then in Week 2 this season, both Regina running backs rushed for over 100 yards, the first time that’s happened in school history, en route to a blowout win over Alberta. Erichsen thinks he knows why he and Katende love playing at the Regina Minor Football facility so much.
“Me and C.K. both grew up playing on this field, lots of memories and lots of touchdowns scored here. It’s easy for us to play here,” Erichsen said earlier this season.
“I don’t know what it is and some guys aren’t from Regina so they didn’t play there growing up. I love playing there but maybe if we’re in the Vanier Cup, we’ll move it there,” McConkey chuckled.
It’s an unusual 1 p.m. Friday afternoon kickoff that will be heard live on 620 CKRM radio with the pregame show at 12:45 p.m. and the weather Gods appear to be smiling at the football Gods as the forecast is calling for highs of 14 degrees celsius with lots of sun and very little wind on what should be a special afternoon for the Rams community connection game with many indigenous youth attending.
